The United States houses 25% of the world's inmates despite having only 5% of the world's population. This fact prompted former Senator Jim Webb of Virginia to say, "Either we have the most evil people on earth living in the U.S., or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice." The prison industrial complex has a vested interest in keeping people locked up.

Acclaimed "The New Jim Crow" author and Ohio State University professor Michelle Alexander, one of the first to draw the nation's attention to the mass incarceration problem, posted this to her Facebook page yesterday:

The New England Conference of United Methodist Churches voted this past Saturday on a resolution declaring that the Christian thing to do is end the failed War on Drugs, in part by ending the prohibition on drugs in our country.

When Colorado and Washington State legalized pot for recreational use, those who supported it had a lot of reasons. It’s just as safe or safer than alcohol. It infringes on civil liberties. It diverts police resources away from violent crime at a high cost that yields little benefit. It funnels young people into the criminal justice system, and those young people are disproportionately black or brown.